The Winter's Tale (Arden Shakespeare, Third Series) / Edition 3

by William Shakespeare, John Pitcher, Ann Thompson, David Scott Kastan, H. R. Woudhuysen

Overview

One of Shakespeare's later plays, best described as a tragi-comedy, the play falls into two distinct parts. In the first Leontes is thrown into a jealous rage by his suspicions of his wife Hermione and his best-friend, and imprisons her and orders that her new born daughter be left to perish. The second half is a pastoral comedy with the "lost" daughter Perdita having been rescued by shepherds and now in love with a young prince. The play ends with former lovers and friends reunited after the apparently miraculous resurrection of Hermione.

John Pitcher's lively introduction and commentary explores the extraordinary merging of theatrical forms in the play and its success in performance. As the recent Sam Mendes production at the Old Vic shows, this is a play that can work a kind of magic in the theatre.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781903436356
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/01/2010
Series:	Arden Shakespeare Series
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	103,349
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

John Pitcher is Professor of English at St John's College, Oxford.

Date of Death:

2018

Place of Birth:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Place of Death:

Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom

Editorial Reviews

Cleverly and clearly designed for study, notes and commentary appear on the same page as the text and the introduction encompasses the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts as well as a survey of critical approaches.” —Sardines Theatre Magazine

From the Publisher

Cleverly and clearly designed for study, notes and commentary appear on the same page as the text and the introduction encompasses the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts as well as a survey of critical approaches.

Sardines Theatre Magazine